Chapter 20: A Secret to Keep!

"I'm sorry Penny but what do you mean this is not my Semblance?"

"As I said, this thing with your heart is not a Semblance. If anything I have no idea what it could be."

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How can this not be a Semblance? I mean this all started when my Aura was unlocked and now you are telling me this is not a semblance. I have had this for almost two years and trained it like it was my Semblance. Now it's not!

Hell, what does she know about it?

"Penny no offense but it doesn't make sense. How can you explain this then?" I tap my heart and a drum beat starts. "Huh?"

"I am also confused by it as well. But not to worry Seth we can ask my father to do some tests and see what is the cause of it all."

Yea, Hell no.

"No Penny we are not doing that."

"But why? Seth this may cause you some problems in the future if you don't check it out now."

"Penny I had this for almost two years now and nothing bad has ever happened yet."

"But what about today? You said you had no control over it when it started playing by itself."

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I just turn away from her and whisper "Shit she's right." I turn back to her.

"Listen it's fine I will just deal with it by myself."

"Are you sure?"

I simply smile "Yes I got this under control." I tap my heart to make it stop.

"Very well. I feel like this has an interesting story behind it."

"It does, you want me to tell you the long version or the short version."

"The long one if you please."

"Well." I take a seat on the roof and tap next to me for her to have a seat.

"It all started when I was only five years old."


As I told my story of how it all started I see that she was listening to every word I said and she of course asked a few questions in between, like 'How many songs I knew.' and 'Does each song have a name.'

Funny enough I feel like this was the first time actually telling my story to anyone other than my Mom. Even I haven't told Pyrrha this, so it's weird that Penny was the first person I told this to.

"And that's pretty much how I can't even stop my Semblance right now when it just starts by itself."

"Fascinating, do you still have your notebook? Because I believe that this is a gift for you Seth."

A gift huh, maybe but it does have its downsides to it.

"Yeah, I got it in my backpack. But I don't see this as a gift Penny, it's more like a curse."

"Why do you think that?"

"I mean until recently I can't control it when it just happens, like those two times. But any other time I can easily stop it, so I really don't know what this could actually be."

"I'm sure you will figure it out Seth, all it takes is time and patience."

I look at her and see her just smile. She really think this was something I can overcome. This thing in my heart that wasn't a Semblance.

"Thank you Penny you really are a good friend you know."

"I am happy to be friends with you."

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"Penny promise me that you won't tell no one about my heart, If anyone asks just say it's my Semblance."

"But why?"

"If what you said was true, I rather have no one find out what it truly is. Just keep it a secret for now. Eventually, I will tell someone later."

"Very well, if that is what you want I will keep this secret for a friend."

As we continue to talk I just turn to the city of Mantle. Watching it from the rooftop, made me realize that this place was also my home. I may have been raised in Argus but I was still born in Mantle. Being back home, made me wish I never left... Maybe someday I will return here and do some good.


SLAM!

I woke up and stood up once I heard the door slam open.

"Alright, who's getting their ass kicked!"

"Salutation Seth! It's morning!"

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"Penny, what time is it?" I said while rubbing my eyes.

"It's time to head out and see Mantle."

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I am starting to regret being her friend now.

"We better hurry, this afternoon you will be leaving, so today is your last day here. Father told me, to get you out of the shop for the next hour. So let us go and explore."

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Pietro you dick.


Once I step outside the shop I was hit with cold air that really woke me up from my dream stage. Soon I was dragged out and we started to walk all around Mantle. Exploring almost every place that I once knew. Mantle has really changed over the years. But it still felt fresh in my memories of the places that I've remembered.

As we continue to walk I couldn't help but hear some people talk about what had happened yesterday.

"I heard that the White Fang attacked that Schnee Dust Facility yesterday and took a great amount of Dust."

"Well serves them right for having a facility down here in Mantle. It was eventually gonna get hit."

"I also heard that Atlas sent down a group of students to secure the area. Good to know that the kingdom cares enough to send us their young blood and not the military."

As they continued talking, I felt my hand clench in anger at hearing this. Those students are my friends and they are mocking them, as if they can do better than them.

"It would be wise to ignore them." I can hear Penny tell me.

I take a deep breath "Yea. What do they know, If anything you were the one who save the facility back there. You should be the one taking the glory."

"Oh, It's nothing I was just doing my job."

"Job?"

"I...I uhh what I meant to say-"

"Penny, are you hiding something?"

"No! Why would I lie to you, Seth?" Hic

"Telling lies?"

"..."

I can tell she was hiding something but it's not of my business, it's just fun to tease her a little.

"Ha. It's fine Penny you don't need to tell."

"Really?"

"Of course, we're friends and friends trust each other. So whenever you are ready you can tell me and I will listen."

I can see her look down at the ground almost like she was debating on what to say. Has Penny ever had anyone to talk to before other than her dad? If not then I think this is a new experience for her. Oh well, give it some time and she will surely open up eventually.

"Seth we are friends right?"

I mean I'm debating it since the morning but...

"Of course we are. What's wrong?"

"I can trust you right?"

"Well I'm trusting you that you won't tell no one about my own problem here, so yea you can trust me."

She quickly grabs my hand and pulls me towards an alley where no one can see us.

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'Wait hold up. What the hell is going on here?'

"Um, Penny where are we going?"

"Going someplace secluded where no one will find us. Here should be good." She soon stops and turns to me and begins to raise the sleeves of her dress.

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'I am not ready for today.'

"WAIT PENNY! I'm not ready for this!" I just turn my head away from her.

"Seth have a look."

No! Don't turn, no matter how intrigued you are! Don't turn your head!

"Please..."

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Damn it.

I turn my head and saw Penny showing me her arms and to my surprise, it wasn't anything bad.

"Huh? Penny, what happened to your arms?"

Looking at her arms, I feel like I've seen this type before on puppets. Her joints weren't connected too well to her upper arm and seeing it up close I can tell that It looked kind of metallic.

"So you have prosthetics. So what?"

"No Seth. I'm not a human girl."

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Then it clicked on me. Her back opening up and weapons coming out of it, her cold touch and hard exterior, she being strong to the point of almost taking down an army of White Fang on her own, the way she talks, and also not eating yesterday was weird.

"Holy shit your an Android!"

"Actually, the technical term is cyborg."

"Android!"

"Um, you're taking this extraordinarily well."

"Penny for the past, um." I tried to check the time but remember that I don't have a scroll. "You got the time?"

"It is currently nine in the morning."

Damn, that early!

"Well for the past 24 hours we have been talking and working with each other, I feel like I can trust you enough that it doesn't matter what you are. You are still my friend."

'I mean I bearly have less than ten friends and I really don't discriminate against others so I take what I can get. Also, I feel like th-'

ACK!

My train of thought ended when I felt Penny giving me a hug.

"Seth you really are the best friend I could have!"

"Penny! I'm tapping out here! I'm Tapping out!"

She lets go and looks at me. "Please promise me that you will never let anyone know about this."

As I lay on the ground, I just throw her a thumbs-up.

This friendship might hurt me in more ways than one.


After the whole ordeal of us walking around Mantle and her telling me her secret, we decided to start to head back to the shop and see what was so important that I had to leave early in the morning.

Entering the shop we were met with Pietro sitting on his desk working on something. He turns to us to see who had entered his shop.

"Ah, your back. How was your walk through Mantle?"

"Well the people are dicks, the streets are full of trash and the cold air is still the same as I remember. Yea, I think it went rather well."

"Uhhh well good to know Seth. What about you Penny how was it."

"It went wonderful! I did as you ask me to do."

"Yea about that. Why this early in the morning doc?"

"Well, I needed you to leave the shop for me to work on this." He reaches under his desk and pulls out my weapon. " After seeing your weapon and your Mother telling me about your first experience with a Grimm. I took it upon myself to add one little upgrade to your weapon. Have a look." He hands it to me and I inspect it.

Looking at it from all angles I really didn't see anything new on it. I check the muzzle, the trigger, and all over the barrel and I saw nothing new to it. However, the moment I grab it from the pistol grip I felt like it had some sort of button. Looking at it, I soon saw that the pistol grip of Favillae now had a button under the grip of it.

"What does this do?" I was about to press it but Pietro.

"Don't press it inside the shop!"

Stopping in my tracks I turn to him with a confused look.

"Why?"

Sigh..."That button will release your sword off your shotgun. So you don't have to press the heart on your sword the next time someone gets on top of you, so now you can easily get your weapon ready."

You know I feel like I've seen this before. But I can't remember where.

"Wow, Thanks Doc! I'm surprised that you were able to do this so quickly and in an hour."

"It was a simple upgrade, it's not really too complicated for someone like myself." Pietro just simply raises his head with pride.

"Father is one of the greatest minds in all of Atlas, so of course he can do something so simple."

I mean yeah he is. He made you Penny, an Android that looks like a girl and someone who can kick ass in so many ways.

"By the way do you know where Mom went?"

"Oh, she left an hour ago but she might be-"

"I'm back! Oh sweet heart your back, how was your morning with Penny?"

Wording mom.

"It was fine, we walked around and saw almost all the parts of Mantle."

"That's good. I got a surprise for you." She reaches into her jacket and pulls out a present.

"Here you go open it up."

She hands me the present. I really have no idea what this could be. I open the gift and see that it was orange. Taking it out I soon realize it was a winter scarf.

"Surprise! Do you like it?"

I mean... It looks nice and all but, I don't think this will match my color style. But then again it's the thought that counts right?

"Yea, it looks nice Mom. Thank you." I said with a fake smile.

"Seth don't fake a smile. It doesn't suit you."

Shit.

"No! For real it's nice and all, but why orange?"

"You know I also had one when I was in school, So I thought 'Hey Saff why don't I get one for my son.' But If you don't want it" She wipes her face as if she wipes out tears. "Then I can just take it back."

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Sigh... I just put it around my neck and tie it.

"Happy?"

"Yes! It looks good on you."

"I agree with Miss Sapphire." Penny decides to chime in. But that only got me to blush.

I look back at Mom and see that she was smirking at me.

The things I do for love.


The rest of the morning went fine and all. However, it soon came the time for us to leave and head back to Argus. Pietro was kind enough to escort us back to Atlas to catch our ride back. With a thankful goodbye from Pietro and a very painful goodbye from Penny. We aborded the airship back to Argus.

"So how was coming back to Mantle felt like?"

"Well considering what happened yesterday and everything we went through... It was good, I'll give it a 4/10 for a trip."

"Really? Only a four?"

"Well the morning was a four but the rest was a ten."

It wasn't a bad trip at all, Sure it had its ups and downs, but I got to meet some old friends and got to meet some new ones as well. And now that it's over, I got one goal in mind now.

Getting into an Academy. And becoming a Huntsman.


As we landed in Argus. The first thing that we decided to do was get me a new scroll. Making our way to the shop we started to see a lot of different advertisements with a familiar face.

"Everyone knows that a pre-fight meal is the most important. That's why I turn to pumpkin Pete's marshmallow flakes before a match." She bites a spoon full of cereal but at that moment I can tell that she regretted all of her decisions by that point.

"That poor girl." I just said while looking at the screen.

"I'm surprised, we were only gone for a day! And already a commercial is out."

What did we miss?

Well, whatever if anything Pyrrha would kindly explain what happened. I wonder where she could be right now.

Once we got to the store and got me a new scroll, Mom was kind enough to send me the pictures of my party that she took, thankfully I was able to keep my pictures from my old scroll and transfer them to my new one. However, my number changed. So I took it upon myself to do one important thing. Prank someone.

'New Phone who this.'

I think that's how it went.

Soon I received a text from Pyrrha.

'I'm sorry! I have no idea who this is?'

'WOW! After all the years we have been together as friends this is how I'm getting repaid! Blocked!'

'WAIT SETH! I'M SORRY!'

She is too easy to tease.

'Meet up at the park.'

'Okay!'

Well, that's over with now. I turn to Mom and told her I was going to go meet with a friend and I'll see her at the house. She just told me to be careful.


As I made my way toward the part that we always go to. I started to think of what Penny told me. If this thing in my heart isn't a Semblance, then what the hell is it? I mean it all started when I first got here in Argus and every night, I just kept on hearing music in my sleep. Then for almost ten years all of the music I have heard I kept in a notebook with what I heard. Sure, I remember the song once I hear it. But when I hear some other ones, I just don't remember at all.

I take a seat at a park bench and reach in my backpack, removing the notebook that I took with me. Opening it up I just skim over all the songs that I remember.

'I might need a new one soon, I'm almost running out of paper. Oh well, I'm just happy that every song here is something that I will always have with me.'

As I kept turning the pages, I spot a song that I didn't remember, but looking at it now... It seems familiar.

'The Path... to Isolation? Wait wasn't this one a song that I didn't remember. Why does that remind me of-'

I felt a hand on my shoulder.

I quickly drop my notebook and turn ready to throw a punch at the person. But I stop my punch in front of the person's face once I saw red.

"Shit Pyrrha I'm sorry I didn't mean to-

"No Seth it's alright. It was my fault for sneaking up on you. Are you alright?"

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Sigh..."Let's just say, it was a crazy birthday."


A/N: Thank you for reading this chapter! I hope you enjoy it.

Now update: We are getting close to the end here. And by the end I mean before we go to an Academy and actually begin this whole actual show here. I feel like I got two more chapters or three and we will soon go.

Also about the change of the cover art. It's done! however, I will post it around maybe the next chapter or the chapter after that. Because I forgot one thing that I needed to add. So hopefully I do it next chapter. ( He forgot the Emblem.) Yea, that.

Well, thank you again. for this and Thank you for all the Favorites and Follows. Also the comments, I'm happy that you guys are enjoying the story so far and want to see more of it.

So until next time! Like, follow and sub-

(BONK!)

(No none of that! Thank you for reading and we will see you next week! BYE!)